I receive money from my blind mom to pay for my expenses while living in her home to care for her. Is this considered taxable income?

I would take this question to an accountant or consider seeing an elder law attorney to work out a care contract. Either should be able to give you peace on this subject. I myself would choose the attorney. If you are your Mom's POA (you SHOULD be) then her funds pay for that visit. And you can get other things worked out like the POA, the record keeping needed by you as her fiduciary legally, and a whole lot more. You also need information how any payment to you must not seem like "gifting" from her. There may come a time when your Mom needs placement, but has not adequate funds for payment; she may need application to medicaid and you would have a "lookback" on her expenditure.
You can get some good information from a Forum like this, but it helps to see a professional when you need professional advice where you cannot afford to go wrong.

I guess it depends on the $$ amount but it would probably be of benefit for both of you to set this up with a formal employment agreement, that way you are paying something into SS and she will be covered if she ever needs to apply for medicaid. Setting this all up can be complicated so spend the money to hire someone who knows what they are doing tax wise and also understands medicaid.

erin62, welcome to the forum. It is good that your Mom is able to pay you for taking care of her. But I worry about your financial future.

I wonder if the pay your Mom is paying you could be used for a caregiver to come in and take care of her.

That way you can go to work outside of the house depending on your work history. If you came from past employment where you had received a good salary, paid vacation days, paid sick days, 401(k) benefits, stock options [depending on the company], promotions, etc. Just something to think about. It is expensive getting older.

For tax purposes you can give someone $16,000 before they would have to pay taxes on it.

Yes. She (your mom) will need to report it and you will need to claim it. Medicare, and SS needs to be paid from it. See your tax professional regarding it and how 1099's need to be completed for your state.

yes, it is taxable. you need to set up appropriate paperwork for her to report what she paid and for you to report on your tax forms. contact a cpa or atty to get you on right track.

See an elder law attorney before you get mom disqualified from Medicaid coverage if she should ever need it. Make it legal.

I'd have thought no, but there is the caveat that it's either caregiver's income, to be declared as such, or she is giving you the money and it's therefore gifting within Medicaid's sense of the word. Could that become an issue?

Anyway, if it were me I'd ring up the tax people and ask.

No! Your her daughter. What she gives you and what you do for her is nobodies business, especially the govt. I’m sure it’s not a great amt of money so it wouldn’t raise red flags.
And don’t get attys involved. They need to make a living and your money is as good as any bodies.

The tax people don't know the legalities of gifting under Medicaid. Tax people will.tell you that yearly gifts are not taxable up to 17K this year. But these gifts are not waived by Medicaid.

They need a care agreement that is legal in Medicaid's eyes and will meet their scrutiny. The time to learn about the gifting rules is now, not when Medicaid has denied benefits because of giving daughter money for her own bills. What if mom has a stroke and needs a nursing home tomorrow. If mom does not have assets to pay those costs out of pocket for five years then she will be penalized an amount equal to the gifted amount. You do not need the extra stress of questions of her qualifying when the care is needed.

It would be nice if this was none of the government's business, but the government and me and everyone on this site will be the one's paying for mom's care. It is our business, why should I be taxed to pay for mom's care when she gave away her assets?